Superman: The Animated Series
Episode 5
A Little Piece of Home
It was going to happen eventually so why drag it out? This is the episode that establishes Superman’s major weakness. An irradiated piece of rock from Krypton, his home planet, called kryptonite. While trying to stop a robbery at a museum owned by Lex Luthor, Superman gets his ass kicked. Luthor figures out it was the rock that got Superman sick. From there he sets up a robbery to lure in Superman and test the rock. It works pretty well. Luthor tries to work out a deal with Superman which would allow him to save the day as long as he stays away from Luthor operations.
From a business standpoint, it’s not a bad offer. But Superman being who he is, says no. Lex Luthor sets out to kill him. Lois gets involved, because it wouldn’t be a Superman story without Lois in danger. Superman fights a giant robot T-Rex with kryptonite in the same room. He’s not doing too good. Lois uses some top-notch basketball skills to throw the rock in a led cup. Superman destroys the monsters, launches the rock into space. Lois agrees to not publish a story about his weakness, which is a class move considering how often he saves her life. Luthor sends archeological teams all over the planet looking for more kryptonite.
The best parts of this episode are Lex Luthor discovering the rock and instead of launching an all-out assault he first tests it, then tries to cut a deal. The calculating approach is brilliant character development. Luthor isn’t pure evil, just greedy. He works as the antithesis of Superman because Supes would never barter in such a way. And while his introduction in the opening three episodes was great, this fleshes out his persona much more.
People have expressed complaints with the green little rock that can take out Superman but when you have a character who’s invulnerable and fights crime, you have to add drama and danger. It’s a logical obstacle. Thankfully the creators didn’t overuse it as the episodes go on and focused on creating genuine foes Superman would have difficulty with.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
